Self-Help groups — Riddhi Siddhi and Jijamata, which work for the women living in rural parts of Pune district — received cheques of Rs 50,000 each from Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar at an event in the city on Monday. During the event, several other organisations received similar cheques — ranging between Rs 50,000 and 2 lakh — as loans, under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana.

A member of the Jijamata group, said, “We can now plan to purchase more sheep and cows to increase our monthly income from the milk reared from these animals. As of now, we could provide only two sheep to each woman in our locality.” Meanwhile, Javadekar also urged the banks to iron out their procedures and documentation in a way that the customers are not inconvenienced.

“No customer, seeking loans or other services, will appreciate repeated visits to banks. I am requesting all banks to work toward improving their services,” he said. Javadekar, recalling the time he had worked in a bank, said they used to give customers all the instructions necessary at once.

Agreeing with Javadekar, Pune district Guardian Minister Girish Bapat said there was a visible gap between banks and customers, which needs to be bridged. He said, “Banks can think of employing social workers or intermittent people, who will act as mediators between them and the customers. This will smoothen and fasten the process of sanctioning loans.” So far, the government has disbursed at least Rs 36,000 crore as loans, to help the startups in Maharashtra under the Mudra scheme.